Three assumptions about the Donbas

1. Putin doesn’t need the Donbas… this was the case even at the start of the war. The Donbas is not Crimea, which has a sacred importance for Russians and which is worth an enormous investment risk.

Putin wants the Donbas to be part of Ukraine so that the Kremlin could use it as an anchor, forever binding Ukraine to Russia… so that it would influence the foreign policy of our country, so that Donbas MPs could sit in the Verkhovna Rada and influence parliamentary decisions.

2. The Donbas has been looted and “lumpenized” (from lumpenproletariat - the lowest stratum of the proletariat. Used originally in Marxist theory to describe those members of the proletariat, especially criminals, vagrants, and the unemployed, who lacked awareness of their collective interest as an oppressed class). Russia has disassembled and stolen whole factories and resources from the Donbas. Enormous financial funds will be needed to re-build and renovate the region. Ukraine does not have such resources. The local creative and intellectual elite have left… some to Russia, others to Ukraine.
3. In the 21^st century, the most important asset is not land, but people. A comparatively small country, like Japan, has no mineral resources, and yet it has one of the most powerful economies in the world. Because it has PEOPLE!

Most Donbas residents (let’s face the truth!) despise Ukraine and view it as a geographical mistake. Since the first year of independence in 1991, this region has consistently voted for the Party of Regions and the communists. It’s silly and naive to think that “politically correct” television and radio broadcasts will make it right. This land has been poisoned by the “Russkiy mir” (Russian world). I will provide no conclusions. Make your own…